7 month old won't eat baby food

[underink]

I haven't found a solution to this anywhere and I've found in my 7 months of having my daughter that pediatricians are frequently full of crap when it comes to advising me on taking care of my daughter.

So I'm going to ask other mothers if they've had this problem.

My daughter won't eat baby food. Period. She won't eat anything that comes out of a jar for more than one or two bites, and then she gets really upset and freaks out. She LOVES the fruit combinations, but only fruit. Now, I've done an experiment, and I've tasted these different foods (from many companies, not just one) and noticed a pattern.

The fruit jars and plastic containers -taste like fruit-.

The dinners, or anything that isn't fruit, generally don't taste good.

Last night I made my husband some spaghetti and we sat down to dinner. I usually feed her immediately afterward because I have to feed her by hand, and the smelling of food sort of builds up her appetite (I noticed this with a different feed schedule that didn't work out so well; if I fed her before dinner, she wasn't hungry--immediately after our dinner, she was).

I had a jar of Gerber (I believe) spaghetti dinner for babies for her to eat. Wouldn't have it. Didn't want anything to do with it. So I tasted it.

Oh my god! Gross! It barely had a taste at all and what taste it had was just . . . yuck! I know you're supposed to feed them baby food from jars because of the higher nutritional value, but come on. I took part of our spaghetti dinner, fresh noodles I chopped up into small bits for her to eat easily, and added a little sauce, and then put some of the disgusting baby stuff in, and suddenly. . . voila! She ate it!

I've noticed this pattern with her, that she will only eat freshly cooked home made meals. It's not that she doesn't want to eat solids, or doesn't want to eat the kinds of foods I give her, she just HATES baby food!

Is there anything wrong with me doing this? Because this is the only way I can get her to eat. I'm going to consider juicing/processing veggies and fruits to make sure she gets enough of those, and quit buying baby food all together.

[opmmamma]

Hi underink---my 3rd baby--a girl- refused to eat baby food. She did exactly the same thing that you are describing. She refused to eat the food so I quit giving it to her. At 7 months I did not give her proteins such as beef/pork/chicken etc bc I was breastfeeding still and her little system isn't able to digest meat yet. I began by giving her homemade applesauce, pureed: pears, canned peaches, strawberries. As she got older I would add vegetables. A favorite was cream cheese and small curd cottage cheese also.

I also bought several "safe baby feeders" from one step ahead. They are a mesh bag that you can place food into (slice of apple, vegetable etc) and then the child chews on it. They are great.

I had discussed this issue with my doctor and as he said--what do you think they fed babies 200 years ago. I kinda had a "duh" moment and realized that as long as she was getting the nutrients from the breastmilk (or formula) plus what ever she will eat ---then she was as healthy as if she was eating the canned food.

Now at 2 1/2--she is is the one that seems to like vegetables the most. She has the most varied diet and is willing to try anything that the adults are eating. She has had no ill effects of not eating baby food, and we saved a fortune not having to buy all those little jars.

Hope this helps.

[lismom2]

I was going to say pretty much the same thing as opmmamma :) Babies get most of their nutrition from breast milk or formula for the first year and there are several studies that are stating that this can be true for up to 2 years. Ds wouldn't eat ANYTHING until right before his first birthday. Now he kind of goes in spurts on what he'll eat. As long as your lo is hitting milestones in a reasonable time frame, I wouldn't worry too much.

[underink]

Thanks guys. I fed her fresh turkey earlier today, pulled into threads/strings, and she fed herself and enjoyed that. I don't have a problem with getting her to eat, but the doctor makes me feel like I need to give her baby food because of the extra vitamins. I don't believe this whatsoever, because I got on fine without it when I was a baby. She has the same picky eating habits I did---I'd only eat fresh, home-made food, not jarred mass produced stuff. Definite taste difference, and she doesn't hesitate to let me know it.

[supahCmami]

look up baby led weaning. i've never given my 8 month old babyfood and she's been eating since shes 5 months. She LOVES to eat too! Today she had, blueberry yogurt; Bits of bagel, creamcheese, and smoked salmon, pancakes, and rice and beans.

Basically she eats what I eat unless its too hard, she'll even eat spicy food!

I also let her feed herself within reason putting food on her tray, or giving her the loaded spoon to put in her mouth.

The jarred stuff looks nasty, its cute that your lil 1 stuck to her guns about her jarred food!

[supahCmami]

bad mommy! i just noticed she had no fruit or vegs today! (my daughter eats every vegetable ive given her, and she only has 2 teeth!)

[piffcat23]

I am having a somewhat similar problem. My 11 month old son won't even try to self-feed and now he is throwing temper tantrums whenever I try to feed him fruits. He won't use the mesh bag eater, he just pushes his cheerios on the floor and just wants the jar food of veggies. Any suggestions?? Help!

[Newmom!]

Cooking your own foods and mashing them is called making your own baby food :-)
Here is a good website www.wholesomebabyfood.com Gives ideas on food to make and how to freeze large batches. Gives ideas of what foods to introduce what months.

Store purchased baby food is only for convenience - Not for health. I do like the dry baby cereals - they are good for thickening up liquids, and they contain extra vitamins. I do look at the jarred stuff for combination ideas, but I also give my baby lots of foods that are not available in a babyfood jar.

In your homemade meals, you only have to watch that you don't overload the salt - anything else goes.

My baby has had only homemade food and tonight (at 10.5 mo) ate half his meal by himself! (peas, crumbled hamburger with seasoning, and yam cubes). So keep on making your own foods and be sure your baby gets a variety of different foods and be creative.

[baby2comin]

DD gave up baby food around that time too. Saved me money. She had 4 teeth by then. We mashed up beans. Let her eat peas, carrots and cheerios. They are still drinking formula so they end up fine.

[katfontenot]

None of my kids would eat the baby food in the jar, not from the lack of trying either. It seems like when they get their own sense of mind they make their own lil decisions. Mine loved oatmeal, grits, and even cream of wheat. One thing I haven't seen anyone mention, is that they do have baby liquid vitamins, if you are not sure that they are getting enough from the formula or breast milk. I have used them with all my babies, and we are now having our 4th lil one and I have a feeling we will be going through the same thing all over again!

[Laur324]

My son is 7 months old and also will not eat baby food. My mom actually let him taste her food at dinner and now he wont eat his baby food and wants our food... now we have decided just to puree different soups and give him that... im just worried hes not getting enough vitamins and nutrients that he needs... is this bad?

[MrsBurke]

If you continue to breastfeed him you don't need to worry about him not getting enough nutrients.